Political parties and independent candidates have launched an attack an the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), labelling it incompetent.
This is after numerous citizens were not afforded a chance to vote on Wednesday.
A number of voting stations closed in the early hours of Wednesday, there are also reports that doors at some voting stations were shut before 9pm.
Political parties and independent candidates expressed concern following technical glitches that led to long queues at some stations that did not have functional scanners; they also said the verification process was also questionable.
Speaking about the IEC vetting process, independent candidate Tshepo Mogano said that when a person produces an ID while wearing a face mask, how did the IEC official verify if indeed it was the person.
“Why is the IEC vetting processes poor? This is why I am saying there is lack of professionalism when it comes to IEC, they need to pull up their socks. They are the best Electoral Commission in the continent but if you saw this kind of unprofessionalism, then what is happening from the rest of the continent? This means we are going to be a banana continent. Every elections will have questions that are not answered, that is not democracy,” said Mogano.
A total of 14 753 inmates registered to vote in South Africa.
Mogano said doing his first visit at polling stations yesterday, was Kgosi Mampuru voting district (VD) in Tshwane, when he first arrived things looked okay but soon after, no one was doing anything. The IEC personnel said there was no network apparently they had to move to the pitches to get a signal. He said even at the kitchen there was no network, their scanners were not working at all.
“My question was, why don’t you guys use the manual system to work but the warden started getting involved and told me that I can’t get here and tell the IEC what to do.
“I told them that I was there for an oversight to check if things were in order since I am a candidate myself. It was a squabble and it almost became physical until I phoned the correctional facility’s commissioner who resolved the matter and I left,” said Mogano.
He said he was shocked that a warden of a prisoner wants to get involved in IEC matters.
“The IEC presiding officer did not have a clue on what she needed to do, that also shows the level of incompetence from the officials themselves. The training was not done properly, it looked like they grabbed people on their way to the voting station, gave them T-shirts. That cannot be tolerated, South Africa is highly rated. We can’t be doing those kinds of mistakes,” said Mogano.
Rise Mzansi’s Michael Shackleton, who is also at the Gauteng provincial results centre in Alberton, raised concerns after incidents reported on voting day including power outages at voting stations, delays due to glitches, alleged shooting incidents in Tshwane and cars stolen while voters stood at queues.
The Star